INDER PAL Vs. DATTAR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff appears before me as the appellant in this regular second appeal. His suit for pre-emption had been decreed by the trial Court but the first appeal filed by the defendant-vendee had been accepted by the lower appellate Court and the pre-emption suit had been dismissed on the ground that the appellant had given his consent to the sale and had thereby waived his right of pre-emption.

(2.) The land belonged to the appellant, his parents and four brothers one of whom was a minor. Each member of the family had 1/7th share in the land. 6/7th share in the land was sold to one Sohan Lal by the adult members of the family including the appellant a few months before the sale of the minor's 1/7th share. The reason apparently was that the minor's share could not be sold without the sanction of the Court.

(3.) The minor's father applied under section 8 of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, for Court's sanction to the sale of the minor's 1/7th share in the land as his de facto guardian. The adult members of the family including the appellant, who had been impleaded as respondents, filed a joint written statement saying that they had no objection to the Court granting permission to the minor's guardian to sell the property. The name of the intending purchaser or the price for which the land was to be sold had not been mentioned in these pleadings. The Court by its order dated the 10th June, 1965 found, amongst other things, that the proposed sale was for the benefit of the minor. The father, who was the de facto guardian, was, therefore, allowed to sell the minor's share in the land with the consent of all the adult members of the family.